Big Brother 5

The fifth season of Big Brother, the American reality TV show, ran for thirty-one episodes from July 6 to September 21, 2004. This ratings for the season's finale was the highest in Big Brother history, with 10.54 million viewers.

Highlights

Like the previous season's Ex-Factor, this season also had a twist theme. It was called Project Do Not Assume or Project DNA for short and had two aspects. The first was that two of the contestants, Michael and Jennifer were half-siblings who were unaware of each other before the show. They discovered this in the second week and revealed it to the other HouseGuests. Both Diane and Drew had identical twins as well (their twins were not competing in the game), something that was revealed to everyone on the first night and therefore wasn't a twist.

The second Project DNA aspect were a pair of identical twins, Adria and Natalie, who switched places every few days, appearing as one person, Adria, to the other HouseGuests. If they were not discovered after five weeks in the House, they would be able to live in the House simultaneously as individuals. The twins evaded eviction in the fourth week when Adria was nominated as a veto replacement by the Head of Household, Drew. Host Julie Chen introduced Natalie to the other HouseGuests on Day 35, minutes following Scott's eviction. Before the introduction, many houseguests assumed it was Holly who switched in and out with her twin, due to an innocuous comment she had made while in the house. On her eviction night, Holly rebuffed that speculation by saying "there's only one Holly in the world," and was later shocked to learn of the Adria/Natalie twist.

The Golden Veto was tweaked slightly to increase the possibility that the veto would be exercised. From this season on, only a maximum of six players could participate in any veto contest: the two nominees and the Head of Household all getting to select one person each. The winner was free to use or decline to use the veto as he or she saw fit, but with so few players playing, there were indeed more vetoes this season than in the previous two seasons combined.

A new strategic move known as backdooring also originated during this season. Backdooring occurs when a Head of Household puts two players up for nominations whom the Head of Household actually doesn't have any intention to get evicted. Instead, the Head of Household and the two nominees have agreed to band together to rid the Big Brother House of a common threat. During the veto challenge, these three players only choose players whom they feel will use the veto if it is won (the common threat isn't given a chance to participate in the Power of Veto challenge). The player who won the veto uses it, and the common threat goes up for nomination and gets evicted.

Backdooring has greatly influenced how this game was played. During this season, the 'Four Horsemen' alliance (Jase Wirey, Michael Ellis, Drew Daniel, and Scott Long) dominated the Big Brother House for weeks until Diane Henry won Head of Household. Diane attempted to evict Jase during her reign, but she failed when he won the veto and removed himself from the nomination block. The next week, Jennifer (also known as "Nakomis") won Head of Household. Jennifer put a plan into motion that would later become known as backdooring. This specific plan was called the Six-Finger Plan when it was first conceived. Jennifer put Diane and Marvin up for eviction without any intention of getting them evicted. Instead, Jennifer's plan was to finally get Jase evicted from the House. Drew won the veto, and he used it to take Diane off the nomination block. Jase figured out what had happened before being nominated; however, by then, it was too late. Michael Ellis had said to Jase as they figured out the scheme, "You just got bitch slapped." Jase became nominated and was evicted by a vote of 6-1. Later on in the season, another backdooring plot that Diane created led to Karen's eviction. Karen held animosity toward Diane and expressed her displeasure with being backdoored as she left, which Diane vehemently denied, citing a low number of players left in the game and that it was Karen's time to go.

An additional twist was a "Double Elimination Week" in the tenth week of the game, in which the entire process of selecting a Head of Household and veto holder, and evicting a player all occurred twice in one week.

Adria and Natalie were already considered a big threat before Adria made her bold move. Even her own alliance started questioning her, saying that the twins were "solid" and they know they can count on each other. When Adria won HoH, after revealing that Natalie was her twin, she put up Marvin (a "floater") in the game, and Will (from her alliance). Adria's plan was to form 3 smaller alliances in the game, breaking up the two existing alliances. Everyone was stunned by this, Adria's plan backfiring by uniting the rest of the House to try and evict the twins. Adria won the Power of Veto, and despite Will's hopes that she would use the Veto to save her alliance; she did not, meaning that Will was evicted and was the first person to be sent to the jury House. Afterwards, the power shifted and Adria and Natalie were nominated for eviction. In the veto competition, the twins showed their power when Adria won the Power of Veto for the second week in a row. When the Veto was used, Adria chose to save herself. Natalie was evicted, and Adria was without allies. After losing the HoH competition, Adria was put up again. In the veto competition, Adria almost won but lost to Karen, Karen's first victory in the game so far. Adria tried to convince Karen to save her, claiming that Karen was a pawn in her friend's group and was considered useless. Karen told Adria that she wanted to save her, but didn't want to break the promise of her alliance, and so chose not to use the Power of Veto. Adria was evicted, and was sent to the jury House. As she left, Adria made a speech regarding what she learned in the game and who Adria and Natalie would and wouldn't be voting for in the final vote, which led to a heated argument between Adria and Marvin, who took her to task on phrasing her statement in that way after Adria resigned herself to "the reality" that people did not see her and Natalie as distinct people.

At the end of the season, following the backdooring of Karen, the largest remaining alliance in the house of Drew, his best friend Michael and his girlfriend Diane teamed up once more to take out the only other player in the game, Michael's half sister Nakomis, with Michael ultimately getting the final vote to evict his own sibling. Drew won the final HOH competition, and despite Diane assuming that her house boyfriend would take her to the final with him, he shocked her by staying true to a long standing alliance with Cowboy and evicting her in a flood of tears. It is of widely held belief that Diane had the votes to win the final against Drew, perhaps suggesting another reason why he chose to evict her. Any possible animosity towards Drew from Diane was ruled out however when she cast the vote that allowed Drew to win the final 4-3 against Michael. Drew received the votes of Diane, Marvin, Will and Karen, whilst Natalie, Adria and Nakomis voted for Michael.

Diane, Jase and Nakomis would all return to the Big Brother house in 2006 for the All Stars season, however none of them would have much success in that series, with Diane's eviction in Week 4 marking the end of Big Brother 5's presence, though Jase did make his mark on the game by winning half of the first HOH competition along with Big Brother 6's Janelle Pierzina

Season 5 also saw the introduction of a companion talk show on the web. "House Calls" aired weekdays during the entire season and was hosted by former Big Brother 3 HouseGuest Marcellas Reynolds and radio personality Gretchen Massey. The show featured telephone calls from viewers and interviews with evicted HouseGuests, HouseGuests from past seasons and the producers of "Big Brother" Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner.

This was also the final season of Big Brother that had the original floor plan of the House that had been built in 2000 used. In the next season, the House was dramatically changed with the addition of another story added on top, with a more luxurious Head of Household room. CBS Corporation, parent company of the network that carries Big Brother, built the new studios of KCBS and KCAL, its two Los Angeles TV stations, on the site; the new studios opened on April 21, 2007.

HouseGuests  

Adria

Adria (Montgomery) Klein (born June 24, 1974, in Birmingham, Alabama) is a 30-year-old fitness professional from Birmingham, Alabama. On Day 63, Adria was evicted from the Big Brother House. 

Diane

Diane Henry (born March 1, 1982, in Euless, Texas) is a 22-year-old cocktail waitress from Burlington, Kentucky. Diane finished in third place, being evicted on Day 78. Diane was later chosen to be a contestant in Big Brother 7, but was the fourth evicted. 

Drew

Andrew Theodore "Drew" Daniel (born April 28, 1982, in Springfield, Ohio) is a 22-year-old college graduate from Urbana, Ohio. He was the winner of Big Brother 5, receiving $500,000. 

Holly

Holly Michelle King (born August 20, 1977, in Hollywood, California) is a model living in Los Angeles, California. She was eventually voted out on Day 28. 

Jase

Zach "Jase" Wirey is a 28-year-old volunteer firefighter from Decatur, Illinois. His real name is Zach, with Jase only being his stage name. He was evicted on Day 42. Jase was later a contestant in Big Brother 7: All-Stars, but was evicted in Week 3, on July 27, 2006.  

Nakomis

Jennifer Jeannene "Nakomis" Dedmon (born April 25, 1983, in Houston, Texas) is a 21-year-old restaurant waitress from San Antonio, Texas. She was later a contestant in Big Brother 7: All-Stars, but was evicted in Week 2. "Nakomis" is a nickname she got when she was 15. It means "daughter of the moon". 

Karen

Karen Ann (O'Neil) Ganci (born January 17, 1974) is a portrait artist originally from Saddle Brook, New Jersey, and now lives in Spring Hill, Florida. She was evicted on Day 70, the ten-week marker in the House. 

Lori

Lori Valenti (born November 16, 1977, in Woburn, Massachusetts) is a yoga instructor from Woburn, Massachusetts. She was evicted on Day 21. 

Marvin

Marvin Latimer is a mortician from Conway, South Carolina. Marvin was evicted on Day 64, as part of a Double Eviction Week.

During Big Brother 7: All Stars, he came back for the August 13 show as a guest judge for the food competition along with Jun (Season 4 winner) and Nicole (Season 2 runner-up.) 

Michael

Michael "Cowboy" Ellis (born December 12, 1980, in Houston, Texas) is a security officer from Durant, Oklahoma. He has a wife and a son. The season's twist, Project DNA, showed him that he had a half-sister, Nakomis. Cowboy was the runner-up this season. Cowboy later appeared as a possible contestant on Big Brother: All-Stars but was ultimately not selected for the game. He later appeared on Big Brother 11 as one of four previous Houseguest's eligible to return to the game but his selected team did not win the HOH competition resulting in his disqualification from the game. 

Mike

Mike Lubinski (born March 8, 1963) is a dad and painter from Eastpointe, Michigan. He was originally a finalist for Big Brother 4 but ultimately did not make the final cast. Mike was the first person evicted from the House, on Day 14. 

Natalie

Natalie (Montgomery) Carroll (born June 24, 1974, in Birmingham, Alabama) is a fitness professional. Her identical twin sister is Adria. Natalie was evicted on Day 56.

Scott

Scott Long (born June 15, 1979, in Cleveland, Ohio) is a sales representative from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was part of the four horsemen alliance with Cowboy, Jase, and Drew. He was evicted on Day 35, the same day as the twin twist was revealed. Scott posed nude for the April 2003 issue of Playgirl. 

Will

Charles William "Will" Wikle III (born December 15, 1978 in Bangor, Maine) is a registered nurse. He went on to have his own show on the Logo network called Round Trip Ticket. He was evicted sixth and was a member of the jury.